I am sitting at my dual monitor PC with Dreamweaver running on the left monitor and Paint Shop Pro on the other. While I have loved every PC I have had the pleasure of owning, I love this one in a different way. A maternal way. After all, I created this PC.
While studying for the A+ Certification (still studying), I realized that the best way to understand the whole puter package was to build one. The first decision was which CPU? AMD or Intel? I've always owned Intel, but I heard that most geeks prefer AMD. I read everything I could about the latest chips. I learned about cores and pipelines and caches. I decided on AMD as several places indicated that AMD provided more power per penny spent. But then Intel's Core 2 Duo seemed to be the exception to the rule. This was the CPU to buy. And the computer geek boards rumored dropping prices, which proved true to the day.
While waiting for the predicted price drop on the Intel Core 2 Duo, I started researching motherboards. Motherboards (fondly referred to as Mobos), are designed for specific CPUs. The CPU socket on each mobo will accommodate specific CPUs. The specifications for my Core 2 Duo said it would require a Socket 775, so I limited my research to mobos with Socket 775. Processor specs are available at the manufacturer website and at many online vendor sites.
Mobo research includes reading reviews in magazines and online. These reviews can tell you about many features and shortcomings of various boards. Reviews might point out that a board's IDE headers were placed poorly for use with 18-inch cables, or that the length of the video card is limited by the placement of the RAM. Many reviews seem to focus on overclocking. This was not a big concern for me. I wanted to be sure the board had the ports I needed, plenty of SATA and USB headers, PCI Express slot. Consider your own needs and budget. Research any terms that are new to you.
My mobo research also included visiting vendor sites. Many vendors provide photographs of each mobo with slots, headers, connectors and chipsets indicated. They show what comes in the box: cables, software, hardware. Photos also let me know if a board was aesthetically pleasing; mobos are not just green anymore. Vendors provide specifications and details of features. Many vendor sites also include user reviews. User reviews provide real people the opportunity to discuss their experiences with the mobo: Was the manual understandable? Any problems with Vista? Did they have to seek support from the vendor or manufacturer? Would they buy this brand again? Many users tell about their system configuration: RAM, CPU, video card, harddrive. Some will comment on the BIOS user interface. Some will comment on the ease of overclocking. I found user reviews to be helpful in my ultimate decision.
When I had narrowed my choices down to three motherboards, I considered the chipset. The chipset links the CPU to devices like memory, graphics controller, and PCI cards. The chipset (also known as the northbridge and southbridge) is part of the mobo. Their are several chipset manufacturers, and each manufactuter continues to produce bigger and better chipsets. Researching the current crop of chipsets may help you decide on your mobo.
After I had finally made a decision on Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 ATX mobo and Core 2 Duo processor, I could select RAM. Vendor sites again proved most valuable. They showed the types and sizes of memory supported by the board I'd chosen. One vendor provided a bundle wizard where I selected the motherboard and CPU, and the wizard provided appropriate choices for memory. When the CPU price dropped, I made my purchase with the wizard's help.
Video cards. My mobo provides one PCI Express slot. At this writing most mobos provide PCI Express video slots. Many boards provide two PCI Express slots to support either CrossFire or SLI. This was a feature I felt I would never use, so I skipped the extra graphics card slot. Most modern cards can support two monitors. I picked a card with two DVI connectors; it came with two DVI to VGA adapters making it usable with any monitors I chose. The card I chose came with 256MB memory. Most modern graphics cards provide their own dedicated memory indicated with numbers like 256MB, 512MB or 768MB. Generally, the more memory the better — and the more costly!
If the various video card names seem oddly similar, it's because there are a handful of graphics processing unit manufacturers that supply the video card manufacturers. Video card manufactuers match the GPUs with heat pipes, fans, memory, and pretty packages. So, for example, an NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS GPU is packaged in 32 different video cards from MSI, EVGA, XFX and PNY.
There are so many video cards to chooose from and at price points ranging from $50 to $800. I found video card selection more confusing than any other decision. After lots of research and price comparisons, I ended up with an NVIDIA GeForce 7900GS from PNY. Although the box says, Windows Vista Ready, the drivers have been problematic.
Because I prefer two screens to one wide one, I picked up a pair of matching Envision monitors at Costco. While shopping online, I read quite a few reviews indicating a bad pixel or two. Reviewers indicated that vendors claim one or two bad pixels is acceptable — well, not to me! One of my Envision monitors had a bad pixel, and Costco replaced the monitor without a problem.
What's left? Power supply, cpu fan, case, speakers, keyboard, mouse and printer.
I knew I wanted wireless mouse and keyboard. I picked up a set by Logitech that I am very happy with.
I found a nice set of Bose speakers at my local Circuit City.
Using the old Epson printer/scanner until it dies.
I found a 600-watt Xion power supply with a $50 rebate — no, I have not received the rebate. Lots of connectors and pretty blue lights.
I bought a shiny ThermalTake CPU fan because the geek boards claimed the fan that comes with the CPU is not powerful enough. Remember the fan has to fit the CPU socket.
The case was a major decision. It had to be ATX to accommodate the ATX motherboard form factor. But otherwise the choices seemed endless. So many beautiful colors to choose from. Clear side panels. Big fans; little fans. Indicator lights. Front USB ports. Plastic or aluminum case.
Again, I read user reviews. What did previous buyers like or dislike. Less expenisve cases seemed to have sharp edges that cut up people's hands while working inside the box. Some flashy elements seemed to quickly fail. Some front panel doors broke off. Some shiny finishes showed lots of fingerprints. I finally decided on a black brushed aluminum case from Lian Li. It was little more than my budget but it had the features I wanted: No front panel door, removable motherbaord tray, front USB ports, toolless case, clear side panel (ooh, pretty blue lights!).
Once all the parts were in house, I could begin my build.
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